The Hindu          01.03.2011

Dialysis centres of Chennai Corporation opened

: Chennai Corporation on Monday opened two dialysis centres at its diagnostic laboratories near Valluvar Kottam and in Perambur to provide free treatment to underprivileged patients.

Inaugurating the facility near Valluvar Kottam, Mayor M. Subramanian said an estimated 25,000 persons needed dialysis. Each of the centres would have two machines. These centres, set up at a total cost of Rs.50 lakh, would offer dialysis to five persons daily.

In a release, he said patients are charged up to Rs.3,000 each for dialysis in private hospitals and a few voluntary organisations are offering the service at a subsidised rate. Many patients, requiring dialysis twice or thrice a week, cannot afford this. Pointing out that the Corporation would not be able to sustain the free dialysis service for long time on its own he appealed to the NGOs to support the initiative.

He said that 1,604 students were detected with symptoms of kidney diseases in a camp held recently for nearly one lakh students of Chennai Schools. Such initiatives were aimed at prevention and timely intervention.

Chennai Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan was present during the occasion.